Virtually all internal combustion engines require the use of an air filtering mechanism to maintain the inlet air flowing into the engine as free of contaminants and as clean as possible to maximize the service life of the engine. This requirement is particularly important when the engines are mounted on shipboard and the available air is salt and moisture laden. In such an environment, one of the primary requirements of such separators is to separate the moisture from the air. This is particularly important when the marine engines are gas turbines, where moisture droplets impinging on the blades of the turbines can do severe damage.
As can readily be understood, space aboard a ship for such separators is often at a premium, however, the separators must perform their function adequately in order to prevent damage to the engine. Therefore, there is an ongoing need to increase the efficiency and the compactness of these separators.